Arts & Culture

Visual Arts
King County has a variety of art venues, featuring everything from old-world masters to underground contemporary works. The Seattle Art Museum, Museum of Flight, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Bellevue Art Museum, Northwest Railroad Museum and many specialized and unique collections are on display throughout the region. In addition to museums, the King County area is host to more than 100 galleries and 6,000 visual artists.

Performing Arts
If it’s moving performances you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place. Seattle is one of only a few cities nationally to have professional opera, symphony and ballet companies.  The region offers a rich array of performing arts, including the Fifth Avenue Theatre, the Issaquah Village Theater, Bellevue’s Meydenbauer Center, the Paramount Theatre, and Mercer Island’s Music in the Park on summer evenings. Seattle boasts more theatres than any comparably sized US city, and the number of total performances ranks second only to New York City. Options range from contemporary theater to summer festivals, modern dance and movement theatre, avant-garde original works and Tony Award winning classics.

Downtown Seattle’s Cultural Centers

International District
Bordering downtown Seattle to the south, the International District hosts a thriving Asian community with specialized retail stores, restaurants, museums, theaters, monuments and parks.

Pike Place Market
A popular designation for tourists and natives alike, the market is an exotic year-round attraction with both local and international foods, farm-fresh produce, Pacific Northwest arts and crafts, restaurants, clothing, antique and novelty stores. Over 10 million patrons visit the Market every year.

Pioneer Square
Pioneer Square features historic buildings erected after the great fire of 1889. Just beneath the Square, remnants of old Seattle are still intact and can be explored through guided underground tours. A daytime center for galleries and specialty shops, the square is also a nightlife center with live blues, jazz, rock and comedy acts.